The Power Pirate
The Power Pirate was the first episode of the first season of the Super Friends series. It introduced the characters Marvin White, who is the son of Daniel and Diana White, and Wendy Harris, who is the niece of Harvey Harris, a famous Gotham City police detective that helped train Batman in the art of criminal investigation.The family of Marvin White and Wendy Harris is revealed in Super Friends # 1 of the comic book series. Wonder Dog is also introduced here, and his voice is provided by Frank Welker. This episode saw the return of Olan Soule and Casey Kasem to the voice roles of Batman and Robin, which they had previously done in The Batman/Superman Hour, The Adventures of Batman, and in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The Narrator, Ted Knight, also returned from the Filmation series to provide his voice. Bud Collyer, who had provided the voice for Superman in the Filmation shows, had died in 1969, and he was replaced by Danny Dark in this series. Norman Alden replaced Marvin Miller as the voice of Aquaman. Shannon Farnon was also the voice of Wonder Woman, who was previously played by the voice actress Jane Webb in The Brady Kids, making this episode only her second animated appearance. This episode is the pilot of the series and it introduced the first of more lighthearted adventures of the Justice League of America. Although the Filmation series weren't really any darker, they were still more violent and featured more adult content then what was allowed for Broadcasting Standards and Practices by the 1970s. For example, real firearms were used in the Filmation cartoons, whereas the few times you would see a gun in Super Friends, it would be a ray gun almost always. Also, the characters rarely engaged in realistic Hand-to-Hand combat in the show, although in the Filmation cartoons, the superheroes are seen punching the bad guys quite frequently. In one episode in particular, Superman actually kills the villain of the story when he defeats him. With Super Friends, particularly in season one, the violence was toned down dramatically. The "villains" weren't really bad guys. They were barely antagonists, but served more as characters that needed to be taught some kind of moral lesson. In fact most of the bad guys were misguided scientists trying to make the world a better place but going to extreme methods to do so. For the first story, the "villain" is an alien called the Power Pirate, who steals energy from Earth in order to bring it back to his homeworld. __TOC__ Synopsis When massive amounts of energy begin to disappear all over the world, the [[Justice League of America | Superfriends]] must put a stop to whoever is stealing it. But where is the energy going? And how does an inspector from Scotland Yard, who happens to be in every location where energy has disappeared, fit in to the puzzle? Plot Summary Cast Locations *Gotham City **Hall of Justice *** Justice League Hangar **Gotham City Dam * Sierra Nevada ** Central Hospital in Ski Valley ** Donner Pass, a mountain '' passDonner Pass is about 9 miles (14 km) west of Truckee, California. * Scotland Yard, Victoria, London (mentioned) * Oil Plant *Florida ** The Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island ** Cape Canaveral, on the Atlantic coast * Geothermal plant * Electric Generator Plant * Steam-Generating Plant, near Indian Point * Nuclear Generator Plant Celestial Bodies *Traum (planet) ** Traum's moon Vehicles *Batmobile * Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet * Unnamed Freight Train * Anthro's '' space-ship * The Queen Victoria, a Luxury-liner * An Experimental plane * A Nuclear submarine Items * TroubAlert in the Hall of Justice * SDI screen in the Hall of Justice * Big Eye in the Hall of Justice * Batropes * Bat radio * Batlights * Wonder Woman’s Magic lasso * Anthro's umbrella Episode Title Coming Soon! Continuity Coming Soon! Continuity in Other Media Coming Soon! Episode Title The title, The Power Pirate is a play on words. A pirate is traditionally one who steals. In this case he steals power. Notes * As the four male heroes rush off to join Wonder Woman at the dam. The elevator doors close to reveal a Bat emblem, which makes you wonder if the SuperFriends were meeting at the Hall of Justice or the Bat-Cave. * The naming of the ship the 'Queen Victoria' was an obvious reference to Queen Alexandrina Victoria, the Queen of United Kingdom during the so-called Victorian era, from 1837 to 1901. *Wonder Dog pretends to play the bagpipes when he's describing Sir Cedric Cedric. * The goddess of Athena is referenced in this episode. * When Marvin and Wendy are in the dark at the Electric Generator Plant, Wendy tries to find a light switch, but instead she finds Marvin's nose. * Other references: Hand truck, industry, nose, rock, train, boxcar, caboose, octopi, brain, crane, construction, right whale, flag semaphore, Lady Justice, caveman, swordfish, seaweed, whales, cars, Scan report, Big Eye, U.F.O., Scotland, Good Guys International file, tree, Ski patrol, waiter, towel, Extra-terrestrial, technology, television, clock, record player, City Dump and Light bulb. * Wendy reveals the speed of Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet in this episode. The speed is 5,000 miles per hour. Quotes Aquaman says, “With a little help from my friends from the name of the same song.“ With a Little Help from My Friends is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles. It was released on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Batman spoofs several points in Superman media when he states "This is a job for all of us!" Production and animation errors The Power Pirate (Production and animation errors) External links Episode listing @ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235509/ References Category:Episodes Category:1973 Releases